Casarecce Lido with swordfish, eggplants, and mint is a flavorful first course that combines ingredients dear to Sicilian cuisine.

Casarecce, widely used in Sicily and throughout central-southern Italy, is a type of smooth pasta yet porous, making it very suitable for sauces. The eggplant used is the purple one, whose non-bitter flesh is ideal to accompany the delicate taste of swordfish.

To scent this first course, there is mint, which gives a very pleasant fresh note to the palate.

Optionally, you can add lightly toasted and chopped almonds that further enrich the casarecce with swordfish, eggplants, and mint, giving them crunchiness.

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Medium
Preparation time: 30 Minutes
Cooking methods: Stovetop
Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

14 oz casarecce pasta
21 oz canned peeled tomatoes (or fresh cherry tomatoes, chopped)
12 oz diced swordfish
1 purple eggplant
2 oz chopped almonds
0.5 cup dry white wine
1 sprig fresh mint (and a few sprigs for garnish)
1 sprig basil
1 clove garlic
to taste salt
to taste pepper
10 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 quart sunflower oil

Tools

Pan non-stick
knife for cutting vegetables and fish

Preparation

To prepare Casarecce Lido with swordfish, eggplants, and mint, first wash the eggplant, cut it into cubes and immerse it in a bowl of well-salted water.
Then, in a pan, brown a halved garlic clove in a moderate amount of extra virgin olive oil, about 5 tablespoons.
When the garlic is golden, remove it and pour the peeled tomatoes (or fresh chopped ones) into the pan, salt and pepper.
Finally, add a sprig of basil and cook until the sauce smells cooked (about 10-15 minutes).
If you love the crunchiness of nuts and want to add almonds to the dish, peel them and bring about 1.7 cups of water to a boil in a small pot.
As soon as it boils, turn off the heat, drop in the almonds, and leave them for about 5 minutes.
Then drain the water, remove the skin from the almonds and lightly toast them in a pan until they take on a light golden color.
Let them cool and then coarsely chop them in the mixer.
Then skin the swordfish, cut it into medium-sized pieces, and brown it in a pan with 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, slightly salting.
Pour in the white wine and let it evaporate.

Add to the swordfish the already prepared sauce and cook for another 10 minutes, adding just the right amount of water to complete cooking, maintaining the correct consistency of the sauce.
Remove the eggplant cubes from the bowl, pat dry with a cloth, and fry in sunflower oil.
Lay them on absorbent paper to remove excess oil but do not leave them there too long to avoid draining them of all their moisture.
Cook the casarecce, keeping them well al dente.
Drain the pasta and pour it directly into the pan containing the swordfish sauce, stir everything together.
Add the eggplants, chopped almonds, and plenty of mint leaves torn into pieces by hand.
Mix everything well and serve sprinkled with almond crumbs and garnished with a sprig of mint.